... . IN Messrs. Conquest and Spry's twenty-second bright and clever Christmas pantomime, Harlequin Sokoko, the Rock Fiend; or, Kingdoms Three, the Toad, the Bee, and the Tree, the gro tesquely-weird and strange, fantastic, fairy-like, and beautiful are blended with masterly effect. It has been placed upon the stage with a perfection of skill and care, which is carried into every detail of its ...

... DRAMA. DRURY LANE. THANKS to the fraternal rivalry of Mr. Augustus Harris at Drury Lane with his brother Charles at Covent Garden play goers are not disappointed, as at one time it seemed likely they would be of one of the two great Christmas spectacles of London. The absence of an orthodox pantomime from Drury Lane would have been regretted, both for the sake of old associations and because ...

... . Thoughts upon Hunting, in a Series of Familiar Letters to a Friend. By Petee Beckfoed. London: James Toovey, 177, Piccadilly. W. 1879. JUST about one hundred years have passed since the first edition of Beckford's Thoughts on Hunting was published, and his thoughts have kept men thinking ever since. The work is a classic of the hunting-field, and whoever reads it carefully will he fain to ...

... . IT is a good thing to commence a New Tear well, so I com menced mine in fine style on this page by committing most egregious errors. I discovered my blunders and mistakes very soon, but not too soon for some of those quick-eyed, sharp- eared experts who do one the favour of reading and scanning one's work to be down on me in double quick style. My Editor, who is a genial gentleman, and would ...

... MDSIG. MONDAY POPULAR CONCERTS. AFTER the customary Christmas vacation, the Monday Popular Concerts were resumed at St. James's Hall last Monday night, when a programme was presented which contained an important and novel attraction in a posthumous quartett, com posed by Mendelssohn, and never before played in public. It appears to have been written in March, 1823, when Mendelssohn was but ...

... . BOHEMIA and the manners supposed to be characteristic of that ill-defined social district have long supplied novelists and dramatists with some amongst their favourite subjects. Apart from the romantic charm conventionally attached to a reckless existence, whose mottoes are fay ce que voudras and let the morrow take care of itself, Bohemianism has for most play goers and novel-readers all ...

... . OF all the half-hearted merry-makings the efforts of theatri cal managers to supply Christmas fare this winter seem to be the worst. Whether they have been in a more than ordinary degree affected by the general depression consequent upon bad trade, or the delightful weather, or the rollicking list of topics which the events of the year present to them for humorous comment, it would be hard ...

... . THE Carl Rosa opera season at Her Majesty's Theatre com menced on Saturday last with a performance of Herr Richard Wagner's early opera, Rienzi. It will be remembered that it was with this work the Carl Rosa season of 1879 began and that the mise en scène was of the most gorgeous and tasteful kind. On Saturday last the spectacular effects which excited so much attention last season were all ...

... FOLLY THEATRE. The comedy, Cyril's Success, is undoubtedly one of the best of its author's plays. Whilst its dialogue is characterised by all the briskness and sparkle which makes an audience feel sure of being entertained by Mr. Byron's work, it springs far more naturally and inevitably from the situation than is often the case where the conversation of comedy aims at the manufacture of ...

... . THE result of my determination last week to have a look round amongst the pantomimes has almost ended fatally; the com bined efforts of the scions of the comic muse have almost over thrown what little claim I have to rationality, and I am demoralised in all my attributes. The happy, laughing school boy, who looks forward to Christmastide and its holidays, with its parties and pantomime-going ...

... EEVIEWS. Songs of Society, from Anne to Victoria. Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by W. Davenport Adams. London Pickering and Co. 18t>0. IT is certain that no editor of such a book as this could please every reader who has an acquaintance with vers de société, and Mr. Adams anticipates, in his preface, the objection we have to make. He writes:-- It is possible that pieces may be found ...

... MUSIC. CARL ROSA OPERA COMPANY. DURING the past seven days two additions have been made to the repertory of the current operatic season at Her Majesty's Theatre. Respecting Balfe's perennial work, The Bohemian Girl, nothing needs saying, but praise is due to the general ex cellence of the ensemble presented by the Carl Rosa Company. Owing to the absence of Mr. Packard, through indisposition, ...